1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a game machine comprising a display section for displaying gaming images, and a game board disposed on a front side of the display section.
2. Description of the Related Art
Today, many of pachinko machines (game machines; a Japanese bagatelle-type playing machine that is one example of a “game machine” of the present invention) have a monitor disposed on a game board thereof, and are configured to be capable of staging scenes that amuse players by displaying various gaming images associated with gaming statuses on the monitor. However, it is generally difficult to arrange gaming parts, such as pins and accessories, on the monitor, and hence this kind of pachinko machine suffers from the problem of being restricted in the layout of gaming parts due to the presence of the monitor. In this case, it is possible to contemplate a method of disposing the monitor at an end portion of the game board, to thereby reduce the restriction in the layout of the gaming parts. However, this method makes it difficult to fully exhibit the effects of staging by the display of gaming images.
As a pachinko machine capable of solving the above problem, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2002-200231 discloses a pachinko machine (pachinko game machine) in which a light-pervious (transparent) resin-made game board (play board) having gaming parts, such as pins, fixed thereon, is disposed on the front side of a monitor section. In this pachinko machine, the monitor section and the game board are formed as separate bodies, which makes it possible to dispose gaming parts at respective desired locations. Further, gaming images displayed on the monitor section are caused to be viewed through the game board, which makes it possible to employ a large-sized monitor section that is approximately the same size as the game board. Further, this pachinko machine (pachinko game machine disclosed as the second embodiment in the above publication) is configured such that game balls having entered prize openings formed in the game board fall through gaps between the rear surface of the game board and the front surface of the monitor section and are collected at the lowest part of the game board. In this case, in this pachinko machine, a light-pervious monitor section-protecting plate is disposed between the game board and the monitor section, which prevents game balls having entered prize openings from hitting against the monitor section and breaking the same.
However, through the study of the pachinko machine described above, the present inventor found out the following problems. In this pachinko machine, the monitor section-protecting plate is disposed between the game board and the monitor section, so as to prevent breakage of the monitor from strikes from the game balls having entered prize openings. This causes the attenuation of light due to the presence of the monitor section-protecting plate, making the gaming images obscure. Further, due to the disposition of the monitor section-protecting plate, the configuration of the rear side of the game board becomes complicated.